S. Africa, Blacks And Problems At Home

February 21, 1985|By Scott M. Holleran.

WILMETTE — The generation of the `60s unabashedly maintained that Vietnam was not our concern; Hanoi, Saigon and Da Nang meant nothing to the United States or, at least, nothing compared to Houston, San Francisco and Detroit. Our country learned in a very painful way that seemed to drain it of its self-worth that Americans were not willing to be the globe`s ``policeman`` any longer.

So why, then, do the same proponents of the late `60s peace movement proclaim suddenly that Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg should now be our concern? The racial atrocities and civil rights violations of South Africa`s current government are of far less concern to this country than the federal deficit, arms control and crime prevention in our own nation. Perhaps in more prosperous national times, self-appointed leaders need to parade around and champion the cause of the disenfranchised who live across the Atlantic Ocean. If the black community insists on regarding itself throughout history as

``The Black Community,`` then should not it defend the rights of America`s blacks? With so many social, economic and political problems plaguing today`s generation of blacks, should not the black establishment spend more of its efforts organizing a political force to be reckoned with, providing incentives for its future generations to participate in the free enterprise system?

Shouldn`t the black establishment direct its energy more toward the streets and slums of Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago rather than summon its leaders to be arrested in front of an embassy for the discriminatory policies of South Africa?

Perhaps there is a silent majority of blacks who will rise and redirect their leaders` initiatives as the silent majority did in regard to Vietnam in the late `60s. Until they do, I`m afraid that the black establishment will continue to be more aware of South Africa than its own people.